Medjugorje Way Of The Cross - Cross Mountain

Medjugorje
Cross Mountain - The Way of The Cross

Ever since people from the village of Medjugorje and few surrounding communities celebrated the first Holy Mass on the occasion of the blessing of the cross built on the top of the mountain Sipovac on March 16th, 1934 this mountain peak got a spiritual dimension which nobody could have foreseen at that time.

On the same day, a parish priest, fr. Bernardin Smoljan, who initiated the construction of the cross on top of Sipovac announced the change of the name of it; from then on we will call it the Cross Mountain.

Fr. Bernardin’s idea to commemorate 1900 anniversary of the Passion and the death of Jesus Christ, Son of God, (33. – 1933), with the construction of the enormous cross on top of the mountain Sipovac was very much welcomed by the local population. He also got the approval of the bishop Misic (Mishich).

Parishioners from villages of Medjugorje, Bijakovici, Miletina, Vionica, Surmanci have participated in the construction offering their money, labor, their horses, material and with the enormous efforts managed to conquer the rocky and extremely hard to climb a mountain! In about one month during the winter of 1934 the cross with the altar beneath, with the relics placed in the central part of the cross, was finished and a beautiful celebration took and place on Friday, March 16th, 1934!

On the 16th of February 1973 parish of Medjugorje celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the construction of the Cross and the first Holy Mass on the Cross Mountain.

Since 1981, since the beginning of the Apparitions of Our Lady Queen of Peace millions of pilgrims from all over the World have climbed the top of the mountain and have prayed the Way Of The Cross!

In 1988, after the Feast Of Our Lady in August started the renovation of the Cross. It is a year when dozens of thousands of pilgrims are coming to Medjugorje, and a building of family hotels is at its peak. No permits or papers exist at all for the construction of the houses and hotels, and yet local government made a big fuss when hearing that the Franciscans are refurbishing the Cross, sending the inspections there.

In 1987 parish has received a beautiful gift in the form of the Stations of The Cross from Italy. It was a work of an Italian artist Carmelo Puzzolo, the stations are made in bronze, and only in 1988 just before the Easter, about six months later, the government allowed them to be placed on the Cross Mountain.

The parish Medjugorje - Bijakovici was established in 1892 by a decree of the bishop Paskalo Buconjic. The first church in Medjugorje - Bijakovic was built during 1896 - 97 during the period when Fr. Nikola Simovic was the parish priest!

source - "ŽUPA MEDJUGORJE" - Robert Jolic, on the occasion of the "120 years of the parish of Medjugorje."

Few photos of the Stations of the Cross as well of the Cross and the altar on top of the Cross Mountain - by Blue Heart Travel